Strawberry Hand Pies

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

For today’s recipe I wanted to do something I’d never done before. I have had these hand pies bookmarked for quite some time now and decided to make the strawberry version since we have all these strawberries on hand.

After reading a bunch of the comments about the recipe for the pastry dough, it sounded like it was a pain to deal with. And since it’s been hot here in Boston, I didn’t want to deal with the repeated chilling of the dough.

I started to think about another dough recipe. I debated just using my go-to pie crust recipe… Then I remembered the Good Eats episode “A Pie in Every Pocket”. Alton Brown made handpies (and even used the same dough to make homemade pop-tarts!) Once I found Alton’s recipe and read the reviews it looked like this dough would be easier to work with.

I had a lot of fun making a big mess in the kitchen the night I made these. The pastry dough is VERY easy to work with. And quite tasty. After the hand pies cooled, I popped them in the freezer. Hubby and I have been eating them for breakfast. Popping them in the toaster oven at work does the trick for reheating them.

One Year Ago: Corn Tomato and Avocado Salad

Check out my SECOND week of Strawberry Recipes HERE

Strawberry Hand Pies

Yield: ~20

Ingredients:

For the Pastry Dough
9 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 2 cups
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp kosher salt
2 1/2 ounces shortening, approximately 6 tablespoons
3/4 cup milk
1 egg mixed with 1 to 2 teaspoons water

For the Filling
2 pounds of strawberries (~4 cups, chopped)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Make the Filling
Hull and cut strawberries into small pieces. Mix them with the flour, sugar and pinch of salt, and add vanilla.

Make the Pastry Dough
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Pulse for a few seconds and then pour into a large mixing bowl.

Add the shortening and knead it into the flour with your hands until it is crumbly.

Add the milk all at once and mix in with a spatula until it begins to come together.

Lightly flour your hands and the countertop and turn the dough out onto the countertop. Knead the dough ball, folding over 10 to 20 times.

Using a rolling pin roll the dough to 1/3 to 1/2-inch thickness, then cut into rounds using a 2 1/4-inch ring. Roll each round as thinly as possible or to 5 to 6 inches in diameter.

Assemble and Bake the Pies
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of filling onto the dough, brush the edges of half of the dough lightly with the egg wash, fold over and seal the edges together with the tines of a fork, dipping it into flour as needed. Gently press down to flatten and evenly distribute the filling and snip or cut 3 slits in the top of the pie.

Brush a little bit of egg wash on the outside of the pie and sprinkle with decorating sugar.

Place finished pies onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Dough Recipe from Alton Brown
Filling Recipe from Dinner and Dessert, originally from Smitten Kitchen